Comments on this appearance

Man, it was long long ago, but it did feel like sitting in a "giant living Room" that night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I'd recently returned from London and rushed Downtown for a ticket at the last minute. I brought a flower bouquet and a greeting card in which I'd poured out all my devotion to Ms Mitchell - just on the off-chance she might need an extra lovestruck suitor. Jackson Browne opened the show with a certain wry attitude knowing perfectly well that we were just humoring him until Joni arrived onstage. I think he played "Fountain Of Sorrow" and made a vague allusion to the fact that he had her in mind for it. At Intermission, I went out into the lobby to admire all of the gentle people gathered for the occasion. By chance, I recognized Mama Cass sidling up to the Refreshment Counter - made her acquaintance - and handed off my card into her safekeeping. Joni came out in a simple, but elegant Peasant dress and introduced us to her new dulcimer made of "kookaburra wood" She flourished what looked like a popsicle stick and began strumming her song "All I Want" for us. The rest was pure enchantment. Following the Concert, I went along to the side door of the Pavilion and waited in a line of at least fifty reverential admirers. I felt some small advantage that Cass had given her Joni my card and that it'd immediately hold a special place in her heart. She came out to cheers from the mob of us and some acrobatic guy leaped in front of her path and did a series of breathtaking somersaults to clear the way. I couldn't compete with that and so I gave my bouquet to a female well-wisher alongside me and followed the constant Northern Star into the darkness with a Case of Joni Mitchell's Blues to solace me.